


Karma

by KoreanGal55555



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Angst, Exhausted Marinette, F/M, Glossed Over Fighting, Identity Reveal, Lucky Black Cat, Oblivious Adrien, Post-Season 01, Unlucky Ladybug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-15 14:16:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8059510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoreanGal55555/pseuds/KoreanGal55555
Summary: Everything in the world has a balance, including the luck (or lack thereof) of Ladybug and Chat Noir.
(In other words, the headcanon that no one asked for in which all the good luck of Ladybug and bad luck of Chat Noir had to be paid back somehow.)





	1. The Unlucky Ladybug

She first notices it after fighting Stormy Weather - the broken billboard (and other appliances to take the Akuma down), overturned cars and destroyed signs, the snow storm in summer, and the ice dome in the park. 

She trips twice as often as usual, manages to get needle pricks on every finger, and knocks over a freshly baked batch of croissants in the course of two days. 

She had always been on the clumsy side but it's as if after becoming Ladybug (and meeting Adrien, her mind adds), she'd lost the little dexterity she had. She sighs and when Tikki asks about her bad day, she brushes the concern off. It's probably nothing.

She chalks it up to exhaustion and the beginnings of the cold caused by the rapid drop in temperature during the fight (or so her Mama would blame anyways). 

She actually suspects the couple of days after Timebreaker - all those people gone (including Chat Noir), the Cataclysm-ed statue, the time travel paradox, and the broken watch. 

Her klutziness is off the charts and Alya asks if something had happened multiple times because, "Dang girl! You're out of it. You sure?"

She eyes Tikki who's eating cookies at the corner of her desk and sighs.

"Yeah, just a bad day. Everyone has one of those," she excuses before saying her goodbyes and hanging up. Ladybug stealing luck from Marinette? It can't be.

Besides, she's Ladybug.

If anything, she's got to be lucky, right?


	2. The Lucky Black Cat

The thing is, he doesn't put it together himself.

He has a new influx of good luck, sure - coins on the road, freebies at restaurants, happiness that he didn't have before - but he (quietly) supposes that either: a. it's just a fluke or b. life owes him this much.

He thinks Plagg is the good luck charm since the freedom and new memories begin once they meet, which is the same time he starts school and meets his friends - constant and calm Nino, intense but determined Alya, and sweet if not shy Marinette (who probably dislikes him if her struggle to be in his presence is any indication).

And Ladybug.

Who is confident, kind, and witty with a selfless sense of duty that belies her age all in one polka-dotted package. 

It's actually because of Ladybug he finds out at all. 

They're patrolling the city, keeping an eye out for late night / early morning Akuma or any other petty crimes, and land on the Eiffel Tower.

He can't help but look at her, the lights dancing across her eyes and producing shadows that contrast against her pale skin, when he notices-

"You're hurt," he realizes, unable to keep the surprise from his voice. She looks to him and it takes her a few seconds to piece together what he means.

"Yeah," she confirms sheepishly, rearranging her bangs to better cover the bruise on her forehead. "It's nothing. Just a bad fall the other day. You know, with the luck balancing thing." 

"Luck balancing thing?" he repeats, blinking rapidly. She stares at him for a while, the gears in her head practically audible.

"Never mind," she dismisses, looking down at the city. "Pickpocket at two o'clock."

He forgets about it for the rest of the patrol but remembers it the moment he de-transforms at home. He asks Plagg and can't help but shudder at the answer.

It's one thing to know fighting crime will give him extra good luck in his civilian life. 

But Ladybug? To fight Hawkmoth and his Akuma knowing every single time she reverses the damage will make civilian life harder? 

Some days (especially after the Mime where she has to fix the _Eiffel Tower_!), he wonders why she hasn't been an Akuma herself.


	3. Everyone's Bad Day

He's itching to get out of class, glancing at the clock every couple of minutes. 

Everyone else is the same due to the strange circumstances but Principal Damocles had been inflexible: school was to continue as it was.

However, a whole new box of chalk (and a whole lot of chalk dust), several paper cuts, and at least two broken pencils  _per student_ later, even Ms. Mendeleiev was looking worn and frustrated. It was as if the entire world was conspiring against the class and judging by the volume of students allowed to leave early, they weren't the only ones. 

"Maybe Marinette's finally getting lucky," Alya comments, no doubt checking her phone - the Ladyblog - under the desk. She eyes the snapped pencil on the desk with disdain. "Lord knows I'd rather be sick than deal with all this, especially since I can't even leave to film for the Ladyblog."

"Well after yesterday's fiasco, I think Marinette deserves the break," Nino adds, not even pretending to be doing the physics worksheet while tapping the pencil against the desk.

"What happened yesterday?" he asks, his worksheet half-heartedly completed though he's usually passionate for physics. 

"It was after you left early for your photoshoot," Nino informs, quieting when Ms. Mendeleiev throws a glare in the trio's direction. After a second, the instructor turns away and Nino continues, keeping his voice low. "She tripped pretty bad and knocked over Chloe's bag and her own. Chloe basically went on a rampage and insulted everything about Marinette from her luck to her heritage."

He winces at the description.

"Yeah. It wasn't pretty," Nino adds, shaking his head. "Good thing Marinette isn't here today. I think all this stuff would drive her mad."

"But hey, what _is_ going on today? Is it an Akuma?" he asks, digging lightly for information. 

"I don't know, but from what I can tell, Ladybug's on the Eiffel Tower," Alya answers, brows scrunching together with concern. "I'm guessing if there's an Akuma, she hasn't found it yet."

The bell rings before their conversation can continue and he breaks off from the duo, excusing himself with having an early photoshoot tomorrow (which, unfortunately, is not a lie). He transforms and meets Ladybug up at the top of the Eiffel Tower before realizing-

"You're not Ladybug," he voices, regretting the words immediately. 

But it is. Because, though the costume is color inverted (black with red polka dots), the Kwami magic that prevents people from recognizing them and prevents them from recognizing each other is still working. (Plagg had been ridiculously sparse on the details and Ladybug's Kwami had apparently not been much more help.) 

"I'm not," she replies, standing fluidly and stepping towards him. "Or at least not anymore."

Not anymore...?

He steps backward, slipping and having to look at his feet to ensure he's not about to fall. He looks back up to see her inches away from him, having closed the distance, and he holds his breath as she leans closer still.

A purple outline of a butterfly floats on her face and she scrunches her nose. He near chokes. Ladybug as an Akuma.

"The name Misfortune is so overrated," she argues and he takes advantage of her distraction to take another couple of steps backward, his back pressed against the metal of the Tower. "I prefer something else." 

"I have to say that I'd rather call you My Lady still," he admits, gathering his bearings and extending his staff out in threat. 

"I'm sorry but your opinion doesn't matter Kitty Cat," she mocks, smoothly knocking the weapon aside. 

He's a cat. Or at least he has the reflexes of one. 

Which is why her little movement shouldn't work, shouldn't push him off balance even if it could push him aside (which it shouldn't either). 

But it does and he's falling down, confused - because it shouldn't have worked - and panicked - because oh god, his staff had fallen out of his hand but there's a jerk around his waist and it's Ladybug's yo-yo but it's connected to Akuma Ladybug but-

He glances downward to the commotion and can see the confusion of the citizens below including, he groans, Alya (with her handy camera-phone) and Nino. Of course he needs his humiliation plastered on the Ladyblog. 

He reflexively catches his staff when it lands in his hand and then the yo-yo is no longer wrapped around his waist. He extends the staff instinctively ("That would have been a cat-astrophe."), shooting upwards just as he spots Ladybug drop down. He reaches out to grab her but he misses by little more than an inch.

He mutters a complaint and gives chase, landing just in time to see her put one hand on top of Alya's, trapping the young reporter. 

"Well hello Ladyblog viewers," she states, her usual warm smile replaced with an undeniable chill. Nino has his hand wrapped around Alya's other shoulder, tension written in his posture, but most of the other citizens have already escaped, a majority tripping on nothing in their flight. 

Ladybug steps back and removes her earrings, the Ladybug costume retreating to show-

Marinette.

He gapes.

She slips the Miraculous jewelry into her pocket. Then, a black haze that starts from her head to her feet and fades to show an Akuma, a black cat which parodies himself and a red paw print on her shoulder as if to mock Ladybug.

"I'm Superstition," Marinette - Ladybug! - introduces, smirking, "and without Ladybug, your luck just ran out." 


	4. Superstition

She's never going to get over it.

 _Marinette_ is Ladybug.

Marinette _is_  Ladybug.

Marinette is _Ladybug_.

Her best friend is Ladybug and she was never going to be able to look at her the same. 

"Alya," Nino huffs, spotting her filming still, "Seriously? Stop the camera and help me dig you out."

"Half of Paris is watching this fight and I plan on getting it to the end," she hisses, her glare quelling his complaints (though she spots him roll his eyes at her).

As far as they've seen, Marinette (Ladybug!) has the power of bad luck - only small and annoying things like tripping, unlucky misses, etc.

But against Chat Noir who is practically in love with her (LadyNoir fans were definitely going to cry after today), it's more than enough. They're rather equal but it's clear Chat Noir is barely hanging on. 

"So what's your meow-ssion?" Chat Noir asks, circling. "What did Hawkmoth promise you?"

"Shouldn't you know?" Akuma-Ladybug (Marinette!) questions in return, glancing over Chat Noir's shoulder at them - at herself and Nino trapped under the pile of rubble, mostly uninjured but definitely stuck.

"Is this about the luck balancing?" Chat Noir guesses, daring a look back and meeting eyes with the young reporter. 

"In part," Ladybug (Marinette!) admits, shrugging. Chat Noir lunges and the two superheroes meet in the middle, trading blows until Marinette points out-

"Your shoes are untied."

"I don't-"

Chat Noir goes flying. Despite not even having shoe laces.

"Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous," he complains, staring up at Superstition (at Akuma-Ladybug!) who has the butterfly outline back on her face.

"So impatient," Ladybug tuts, looking down at him. "Don't you think so Chat Noir?" 

Marinette doesn't wait for an answer, scowling back at the previous distance.

"Hawkmoth, you promised me a full twenty four hours. I'd like to believe you're a man of your word," she argues, her poise and confidence familiar from Ladybug but unfamiliar in Marinette who trips over air and hesitates over her words. 

There's a sound, torn from the Akuma's throat, and she sees Marinette claw at her own neck, nails breaking skin before Superstition is released from Hawkmoth's effect.

She barely notices the sound she's made until Nino - bless his soul for sticking with her even when she was like this - puts a calming hand on her shoulder. She realizes she's shaking but there's only so much she can do as both a non-super human and as a reporter.

"Fine," Marinette complains, coughing and then rubbing her throat with furrowed brows. Chat Noir, sensing the change in temperament, flips out of the way, but Akuma-Ladybug is prepared and no longer playing by her own lackadaisical tune but Hawkmoth's. The mockery of Ladybug's yo-yo - now black with a red paw print on the side - goes flying at the same time she shouts, "Don't drop your weapon," and Marinette pulls away his staff, catching it with ease. 

She can see that Chat Noir is running out of options and no one - or at least she nor Nino - knows where the Akuma is in still.

"Come on kitty," Ladybug taunts, tucking his staff away and spinning her yo-yo lazily. Chat Noir pulls out Cataclysm, scowling and tension lining the slope of his body.

She purses her lips, understanding that there's no other options - there's  _literally_ nothing else Chat Noir has - but fearing the worst.

(What could a Cataclysm do to a person? What would it do to Marinette without Ladybug's usual restoration powers?)

They meet in the middle, trading blows until he gets a grasp on her yo-yo. (Thank goodness it's not Akuma-Ladybug, not Marinette.) The metal rusts and crumbles underneath his claw-tips but in contrast to his - and both Nino and her own - expectations, the string remains and with a flick of Marinette's wrist, it entangles him with a life of his own and with a quick, "Don't trip now," he falls to the ground, ring beeping. 

"Sorry Chat. I hadn't exactly wanted our big reveal to each other to be like this," Marinette apologizes, settling on his back and cradling his hand. At her angle, she has the perfect shot of Marinette and Chat Noir, only a couple of yards away for the big reveal.

This wasn't how she wanted it.

"Marinette!" Nino calls urgently, almost but not quite free from the rubble.

"My name," Marinette growls, glaring, "is Superstition." 

The glass of nearby stores shatter at Superstition's bark, some shards dangerously close to the trapped duo. 

"Why are you doing this?" she demands, camera still rolling. Distraction. She can't save Marinette, can't get too close without a risk but she'll be darned if she can't at least play distraction. "If you're Ladybug-"

"Ladybug this, Ladybug that," Marinette huffs, rolling her eyes and dropping his hand. "Everywhere I look, it's about Ladybug who can cure the city with her good luck. Ever wonder where the good luck comes from?"

Chat Noir's ring beeps.

"It's from poor regular ol' me. Uncontrollably klutzy, aren't I?" she hums, tone seemingly amused. "But I can't try and avoid the bad luck otherwise it gets worse. A trip on the sidewalk can end up falling down a flight of stairs or almost out a window. A forgotten assignment can become a fire in the kitchen and after the Eiffel Tower, I'm amazed at how missing a falling flower pot can put life into perspective."

She feels guilty, remembering how many times she had saved Marinette from a fall. And it's not bad, logically she knows, but hearing how deadly it can get - how close Marinette must have been  _to death_ \- doesn't make the negative emotion go away.

"But Chat here?" Marinette continues, punctuating the statement by using Chat Noir's staff - elongating it and stabbing it in the concrete beside his head. "He gets good luck instead."

Oh god. To know that you were saving the world but that your partner - your equal, Marinette had insisted whenever someone had downplayed Chat Noir's role with Ladybug (with passion that she could now 100% get behind and understand) - would be better off unlike you. It was no wonder Marinette had gone down the dark road.

"I'm incredibly jealous but once I learned to just roll with the punches, it wasn't so bad," Marinette informs coolly - too logical and factual rather than emotional. "Except it wasn't  _only_ that."

The three shiver as Akuma-Ladybug's tone darkens. Another minute of Chat Noir's time gone and the feelings of shame and guilt and fear rising.

Because there was more.

"I guess the nightmares of failing come with being a superhero," Superstition continues, waving one hand around flippantly and ignoring the wounded noise Chat Noir makes, "and the press can be annoying but I suppose I can deal. The luck balancing is terrible but I figure it's at least logical. You know what isn't? Having to deal with all of those consequences all at once. Being absolutely exhausted all the time because this city can't stand on its two feet anymore. Having to balance my life and being punished on both sides because everyone assumes Ladybug is always free and not in school."

Once this is over, she's never going to bother Marinette again. She's going to cover for her bestie because she, at the very least, owes Ladybug - owes Marinette who has done so much for her - this much.

"It's utterly exhausting," Marinette continues, playing with the staff casually. "And the worst part?" 

Her stomach drops and she can't breathe.

Because Akuma-Ladybug - Marinette - is pointing the staff at her.

"My best friend turning down time with me for other me, trying to uncover other me despite knowing it'll be more difficult for other me, running into danger for other me, consistently making it harder for me to become other me," Marinette lists, her tone getting increasingly harsher. No one pays mind to Chat Noir's third beep. "I wonder how it feels."

She's speechless, unsure what to say to that because Marinette had always been encouraging - sometimes exasperated, but in the loving way that said, "You're silly but I love you for that still." And Marinette.

How long had Marinette kept all this inside?

"Well I guess I don't have to worry much longer," Akuma-Ladybug casually states, finger hovering lazily over the paw print on Chat Noir's staff. "I wonder if this will blow you away or go through your skull as is. What do you think, Alya?"

"I," she finally manages to say, swallowing hard and staring at Marinette - at her blue eyes which were like ice but normally like the summer sky, "I-"

She doesn't complete the sentence, doesn't have to, because Chat Noir frees himself from the yo-yo string and flips Superstition over, slamming one hand - claw - over Marinette's neck.

The four-leaf-clover charm of the necklace - the childish thing she had bought for Marinette the first Christmas after they met as a joke before unveiling the real present - breaks and the Akuma, unlike most other Akuma, purifies itself mid-air even without Ladybug's usual routine. 

She looks to Chat Noir who looks just as surprised. Not his doing then. 

In unison, they look at Marinette who, also unlike other Akuma victims, is completely knocked out, lost to the world.

Silently, she wonders what else has been lost.


	5. Paris's Lucky Charm

No one talks about Superstition. 

Everyone in Paris knows about her, glued themselves to the Ladyblog's live broadcast until the fight was over, but no one addresses her. 

The video of her is mysteriously absent from the Ladyblog. 

Chat Noir denies any instance of fighting her.

Key witnesses don't exist ("like seriously Marinette. Apparently you just broke a couple of glasses," Alya reassures, smiling weakly). 

No one likes to think about Superstition.

They know about Marinette - about her second life - but they don't talk about it.

Because talking about it means it happened.

It means acknowledging and addressing Marinette's reason for becoming an Akuma:

_Ever wonder where the good luck comes from?_

About her clumsiness and what it cost.

_I guess the nightmares of failing come with being a superhero._

About her sacrifice at night.

_The press can be annoying._

About the pressure they put on her.

_Being absolutely exhausted all the time because this city can't stand on its two feet anymore._

About being dependent on her.

_Having to balance my life and being punished on both sides because everyone assumes Ladybug is always free and not in school._

About her wish to just live a normal life.

_What do you think Alya?_

About how no one had stood by her.

(Chat Noir and Ladybug did not know each other's identities - before - everyone had been told and hadn't believed, but it's hard to deny the evidence of Chat Noir's stricken face at her reveal and Ladybug's casual questioning of his identity.)

So they don't talk about Superstition - barely throw a thought about that certain Akuma.

Sure, they cut Marinette a little slack when they can:

Ignore her clumsiness so that she can get rid of her bad luck nicely.

Not acknowledge her dark circles after late night / early morning Akuma attacks.

Give her and Chat Noir space after battles - cameras, lights, and microphones.

Do as much as possible so that all Ladybug and Char Noir have to deal with is the Akuma.

Cut Marinette subtle slack in school, work, and everywhere else.

And stand by her, her class and friends and family and neighbors and teachers and-

They try.

And it might, they fear, not be enough.

But they don't talk about Superstition.

Because with all that Ladybug - that Marinette - endures for their sake, it's the least they can do for her sake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was born out of the inability to sleep and a depressing impression of luck, karma, and the two superheroes. 
> 
> Not my best work since it was written in less than 24 hours - not consecutive, published in near a week, but worked on only on two of those nights.
> 
> Mostly, I just wanted some Marinette appreciation because some people (aka me) can't even balance their regular lives and she's trying to balance two. I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
